The application of practical geometry and the golden ratio in product design

There have been numerous researchers who, over the years, have explored the relationship between the golden ratio and how it relates to the human perception of beauty. Although the golden proportion is one of the aesthetic characteristics contained in many masterpieces of art and design, it is still largely thought of as little more than an aesthetic guideline, that is, if indeed it is even being considered at all. This thesis asserts that golden proportion and practical geometric knowledge can be used as an extremely effective means of codifying the creative process, inspiring and influencing creative design decisions. This thesis is concerned with examining the application of practical geometric knowledge as an integral part of the design process. It also documents the development of the author’s geometric refinement tools and discusses the results of their performance in testing by scrutinizing the opinions of design students and professional designers who both had their designs modified by the author’s refinement tools. The relationship between geometric knowledge embedded in design classics and bestselling items was also examined. This thesis describes a mixed methods approach with multiple analyses, from which qualitative and quantitative data (about the implementation of applying geometric knowledge) was gathered via two geometry workshops, interviews with the professional designers, as well as an analysis of visual materials consisting of two hundred selected design examples. Based upon the process of employing geometric knowledge and its experiments, the thesis presents a descriptive analysis of the data to test theoretical propositions and draw conclusions about the value of applying practical geometry as design knowledge and as a practical tool for a design in the modern context. The significance of this thesis is that it elucidates upon the use of the golden ratio, and practical geometry as a practical design refinement tool, with the ability to transform the perception of practical geometry from being merely an aesthetic guideline which appears in masterpieces from the past, to a directly applicable practical design technique. The main contribution this thesis makes to the field of design practice is that it attempts to further understand the results achieved by codifying designing styles and design decisions, a process which can be described as objective rational knowledge in practice. This thesis frames individual design participants’ perspectives of the golden ratio and the relationship between modern designs and the masterpieces of history. Thereby, hopefully providing a historical perspective and a modern context for the golden ratio. Further to that, it is the author’s hope that this work will provide inspiration to today’s designers, motivating them to begin implementing practical geometry into their designs and in the future generations of design education to come

Exercise training-induced PPARβ increases PGC-1α protein stability and improves insulin-induced glucose uptake in rodent muscles

This study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of training intervention and resting on protein expression and stability of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor β/δ (PPARβ), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-α (PGC1α), glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4), and mitochondrial proteins, and determine whether glucose homeostasis can be regulated through stable expression of these proteins after training. Rats swam daily for 3, 6, 9, 14, or 28 days, and then allowed to rest for 5 days post-training. Protein and mRNA levels were measured in the skeletal muscles of these rats. PPARβ was overexpressed and knocked down in myotubes in the skeletal muscle to investigate the effects of swimming training on various signaling cascades of PGC-1α transcription, insulin signaling, and glucose uptake. Exercise training (Ext) upregulated PPARβ, PGC-1α, GLUT4, and mitochondrial enzymes, including NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (NUO), cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX1), citrate synthase (CS), and cytochrome c (Cyto C) in a time-dependent manner and promoted the protein stability of PPARβ, PGC-1α, GLUT4, NUO, CS, and Cyto C, such that they were significantly upregulated 5 days after training cessation. PPARβ overexpression increased the PGC-1α protein levels post-translation and improved insulin-induced signaling responsiveness and glucose uptake. The present results indicate that Ext promotes the protein stability of key mitochondria enzymes GLUT4, PGC-1α, and PPARβ even after Ext cessation

Exercise Attenuated Plasma Oxidized Low-density Lipoprotein and Myeloperoxidase

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Observation of higher-order topological states on a quantum computer

Programmable quantum simulators such as superconducting quantum processors and ultracold atomic lattices represent rapidly developing emergent technology that may one day qualitatively outperform existing classical computers. Yet, apart from a few breakthroughs, the range of viable computational applications with current-day noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices is still significantly limited by gate errors, quantum decoherence, and the number of high-quality qubits. In this work, we develop an approach that places NISQ hardware as a particularly suitable platform for simulating multi-dimensional condensed matter systems, including lattices beyond three dimensions which are difficult to realize or probe in other settings. By fully exploiting the exponentially large Hilbert space of a quantum chain, we encoded a high-dimensional model in terms of non-local many-body interactions that can further be systematically transcribed into quantum gates. We demonstrate the power of our approach by realizing, on IBM transmon-based quantum computers, higher-order topological states in up to four dimensions, which are exotic phases that have never been realized in any quantum setting. With the aid of in-house circuit compression and error mitigation techniques, we measured the topological state dynamics and their protected mid-gap spectra to a high degree of accuracy, as benchmarked by reference exact diagonalization data. The time and memory needed with our approach scale favorably with system size and dimensionality compared to exact diagonalization on classical computers.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures in main text; 4 pages, 2 tables in supplementary informatio

Homeolog loss and expression changes in natural populations of the recently and repeatedly formed allotetraploid Tragopogon mirus (Asteraceae)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although polyploidy has long been recognized as a major force in the evolution of plants, most of what we know about the genetic consequences of polyploidy comes from the study of crops and model systems. Furthermore, although many polyploid species have formed repeatedly, patterns of genome evolution and gene expression are largely unknown for natural polyploid populations of independent origin. We therefore examined patterns of loss and expression in duplicate gene pairs (homeologs) in multiple individuals from seven natural populations of independent origin of <it>Tragopogon mirus </it>(Asteraceae), an allopolyploid that formed repeatedly within the last 80 years from the diploids <it>T. dubius </it>and <it>T. porrifolius</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using cDNA-AFLPs, we found differential band patterns that could be attributable to gene silencing, novel expression, and/or maternal/paternal effects between <it>T. mirus </it>and its diploid parents. Subsequent cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) analyses of genomic DNA and cDNA revealed that 20 of the 30 genes identified through cDNA-AFLP analysis showed additivity, whereas nine of the 30 exhibited the loss of one parental homeolog in at least one individual. Homeolog loss (versus loss of a restriction site) was confirmed via sequencing. The remaining gene (<it>ADENINE-DNA GLYCOSYLASE</it>) showed ambiguous patterns in <it>T. mirus </it>because of polymorphism in the diploid parent <it>T. dubius</it>. Most (63.6%) of the homeolog loss events were of the <it>T. dubius </it>parental copy. Two genes, <it>NUCLEAR RIBOSOMAL DNA </it>and <it>GLYCERALDEHYDE-3-PHOSPHATE DEHYDROGENASE</it>, showed differential expression of the parental homeologs, with the <it>T. dubius </it>copy silenced in some individuals of <it>T. mirus</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Genomic and cDNA CAPS analyses indicated that plants representing multiple populations of this young natural allopolyploid have experienced frequent and preferential elimination of homeologous loci. Comparable analyses of synthetic F₁hybrids showed only additivity. These results suggest that loss of homeologs and changes in gene expression are not the immediate result of hybridization, but are processes that occur following polyploidization, occurring during the early (<40) generations of the young polyploid. Both <it>T. mirus </it>and a second recently formed allopolyploid, <it>T. miscellus</it>, exhibit more homeolog losses than gene silencing events. Furthermore, both allotetraploids undergo biased loss of homeologs contributed by their shared diploid parent, <it>T. dubius</it>. Further studies are required to assess whether the results for the 30 genes so far examined are representative of the entire genome.</p